BHURBAN, Sept 9: The G-20 meeting began here on Friday with a re-affirmation to strive for protecting livelihood of millions of poor farmers in the countries under the current global negotiation on agriculture. The ministerial conference was inaugurated by Pakistan Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan. Indian Minister for Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath and Brazilian Minister of External Relations Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim also spoke on the occasion.

The meeting noted that to achieve the goal of protecting poor farmers of developing countries, there was a need for liberalization in tropical products, reduction in tariffs and tariff escalation and capping for developed countries, an official told this correspondent.

According to the official, the delegates re-affirmed the commitment to demand an end date of five years as a deadline for complete abolishing of all forms of export subsidies to be commenced from the date the agreement was finalized under the Doha Development Agenda (DDA).

The G-20 delegates proposed a tiered formula for greater reduction in subsidies, domestic support and customs tariff.

Briefing newsmen after the G-20 meeting, First Secretary to WTO Mujeeb Khan said that the first session focussed on the three pillars of agriculture: domestic support, elimination of export subsidies and market access for developing countries.

He said that no breakthrough had been made in the July framework due to which negotiation remained inclusive.

INDIAN MINISTER: Meanwhile, the Indian commerce minister linked the success of the Hong Kong ministerial conference to changes in the perception and positions of the US and European Union member countries, particularly on agriculture issues.

Speaking at a press conference here, Mr Nath called for achieving results at the Hong Kong conference so that global trade not only became free but also fair.

He cautioned against converting the DOHA development round from a development round to a market access round.